Harry Potter and the Courageous Stand
by Cathy W
Summary: This story takes place in Harry's sixth year. It contains Harry's feelings after Sirius' death, an attack on Hogwarts by none other than Voldemort, a life-altering decision one character has to make, and a growing relationship between two characters. Yo


_This is my first Harry Potter fanfic (although I have written many M*A*S*H fanfics), so be gentle.  I have tried to keep my writing true to the great J.K. Rowlings.  This story has action, adventure, drama, and even a little romance (I'll try to keep it as un-fluffy as possible).  It takes place in Harry's sixth year, so the issue of Sirius' death is definitely there.  Anyway, on with the story.  I hope you like it and please share comments (good and bad) in your reviews.  Thank you._

Harry Potter and the Courageous Stand

_By Cathy W.___

      Harry Potter awoke on this unremarkable Saturday morning as he had for the past few weeks: Dudley Dursley was poking Harry awake with his sausage of a finger, barely suppressing the giggle that always came when he was torturing some small, defenseless animal.  At first, Harry had found it trying indeed to follow the Hogwarts rule that he had twice been accused of breaking; it would have been so much easier to have cast a spell and turned Dudley into a pig as he was as close as humanly possible to a pig anyway, but neither Harry nor any other Hogwarts student could perform magic during the summer holiday.  Instead, Harry's only recourse was to grin and bear it.  Most children in Harry's situation would tell their parents, or perhaps retaliate in some way.  Not Harry.  

Dudley had the run of the house and he knew it.  Harry's Aunt Petunia, a woman with a horse-like face and a sour disposition, doted on Dudley, or Diddykins as she was wont to call him.  Uncle Vernon was even worse.  His least favorite thing in the world was peculiarity, and since Harry was a wizard, as his parents had been, Harry was high on Uncle Vernon's list of peculiarities.  If Harry even looked at his dinner funny, Uncle Vernon would shout at him to act normally and send him up to his room.  Because of all this, Harry merely sat up and felt around on the table next to his bed for his glasses, as if everyone awoke this way and it was to be expected.

Last year, the Order of the Phoenix had told the Dursleys to treat Harry kindly or they would have to answer for his mistreatment.  Apparently, the Dursleys felt that they were being kind.  They were terrified of anything that even sounded as if it had magical properties, so Harry was inclined to believe they were taking the threats seriously.  After all, he was now able to sleep until seven o'clock and was allowed to watch television for one hour every day.  Considering that he had been living in a broom closet four years ago, this was a major improvement.  Dudley, however, was still as insufferable as always.

"Where's my breakfast?" he demanded, rubbing his stomach.  "I'm starving!"  His stomach growled as if in agreement.

"I'm not cooking breakfast this morning.  Aunt Petunia is.  I only have to do it on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays," Harry pointed out, sighing in satisfaction.  He was still nursing a nasty grease burn from frying bacon, and knowing he would not have to risk burning himself again today was a relief.  

"But I want it now!  Give me breakfast or I'll…I'll…"

"You'll what, Dudley?  Come on, I'm waiting for an answer."  Harry drilled his eyes into Dudley's until he flinched away.  Dudley may not have been bright, but he was not a complete, suicidal moron.  He knew that there was a thin line between what Harry would take and what he wouldn't, and he was afraid to push the boundary in the fear that he would wake up one morning with a snout, or something even worse.  Harry smiled in satisfaction.  Dudley, avoiding the sight of Harry, huffed off.  Harry had won many battles this summer, but he still relished every victory.

No matter how many encounters with Dudley or his aunt and uncle went his way, Harry was still anxious to go back to Hogwarts, where he belonged.  Every day he put an 'X' on the date, counting down until the day he would join the Weasleys and Hermione at Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station.  He had hoped to join Ron and his family earlier in the summer, but they had been busy with the Order of the Phoenix.  He had only heard from Hermione once, and then she had been very vague.  The postscript of her short letter had intrigued Harry all summer.  _What does she mean by 'I might have some exciting news, but I'm not sure yet.  I'll owl you later'?  What could her possible news be?_  At least this had helped distract him, but only a little, from the sadness and guilt he felt over his godfather's death.

Harry had looked forward to, and even craved, the day Sirius Black would be able to take Harry home with him and the Dursleys would no longer be his guardians.  Sirius was funny, and warm, and kinder to him than Uncle Vernon had ever been.  Once Sirius was cleared of the murder charges, Harry had been ecstatic.  After all, here was what he had been waiting for.  He would now be able to live with his godfather, the man his parents had chosen as the best possible guardian for him before their deaths.  However, because of Harry, Sirius was dead, unable to enjoy his new-found freedom.  He had been trying to save his life when a Death Eater's curse had killed him.  All Harry's fault.  Dumbledore had assured him that it was not, but nothing could convince Harry otherwise.  He consciously tried to push thoughts like these to the back of his mind, but it only made them more persistent.  After Cedric Diggory had died during the Triwizard Tournament, Harry had felt pain and guilt.  It had almost consumed him, and he had only begun to get over it.  Then Sirius had died.  The pain he felt as a result of his godfather's death was so much worse.  He could not sleep at night for the memories of Sirius or Snuffles that invaded his head.  The most prominent, of course, was his death.  And he couldn't share his pain or his nightmares with anyone.  The Dursleys would never understand, and anyway, he didn't feel comfortable coming to them.  He wanted to talk to Ron and Hermione, but they were busy.  And every time he tried to write them letters about it, the words had refused to come.  Owling them would not work.  Thankfully, Ron and Hermione had both refrained from any mention of Sirius.

"Harry, breakfast!  If you're not down here in thirty seconds, it goes in the rubbish heap!"  Aunt Petunia's voice interrupted his musings, and he jumped with a start.

"Coming!" he yelled back.  It wouldn't do for him to entertain thoughts like these in the Dursley household.  He would have to put them off until another day.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

Later that afternoon, Harry heard a thud at his bedroom window.  He looked up in time to see a very stunned owl try tapping its beak on the window instead of attempting to fly through it.  "Pigwidgeon!" Harry exclaimed.  The little owl looked at him impatiently.  "Alright, I'll open the window," he placated it.  As soon as he did, Pigwidgeon zoomed in and began flying excitedly around the room.  Harry shook his head at the energy of the bird and said, "Come down from there!" as he opened Hedwig's cage.  Hedwig eyed the new owl, but then sidled over to give it room in the cage.  Harry reached in and pulled a folded scroll from Pigwidgeon's leg.  "It's from Hermione!"

He opened it eagerly, hoping for good news.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope your summer is going well, although I doubt it since you're still with those blasted Dursleys.  But you might not have to be for long.  Mum and Dad said you could stay with us for the rest of the summer if your aunt and uncle said it was okay.  Last time I wrote you, my parents hadn't decided yet (that's what the postscript was about).  I know it won't be easy to convince the Dursleys to let you come, so I've prepared an argument for you just in case._

_1) __My parents are Muggles, and perfectly respectable ones at that (they're both dentists)._

_2) If you stay with me, we'll take you to King's Cross and they won't have to worry about it._

_3) __You'll be out of their hair. (I don't mean to be mean, but that's how they feel, right?)_

_Hopefully, this will convince them.  Plus, Ron's here!  He just arrived yesterday.  I'm using Pig because it's quicker than the post. Owl me back with their permission, alright?_

_      Love from_

_ Hermione_

      It was good news.  He smiled at Hermione's forethought.  She thought of everything.

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**_So what did you all think?  Please review!  For those of you wondering about updates, classes start back up next week so updates may be a little sporadic for a while.  Hopefully, I'll have a new chapter out in the next week.  _****_J_****__**


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